Judge delays sentencing for Rodrigues, daughter
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
Former union leader Gary Rodrigues and his daughter Robin Rodrigues Sabatini have been granted a four-month reprieve from being sentenced in federal court on approximately 100 criminal charges including mail fraud and money laundering.
The two were originally scheduled to be sentenced May 12, but that date was pushed back to June 2, which was then changed to Sept. 29.
Gary Rodrigues
Robin Rodrigues Sabatini
Federal Judge David Ezra granted the latest request to reschedule sentencing for the pair after Sabatini's newly appointed lawyers, Paul Cunney and Victor Bakke, said they need more time to research matters pertaining to her sentencing.
Honolulu attorney Richard Hoke represented Sabatini during the trial and until last month.
San Francisco-based attorney Doron Weinberg, who represents Rodrigues, filed a request in federal court on Friday, which if granted, would allow Rodrigues to remain free pending his appeal of the guilty verdicts returned against him and Sabatini on Nov. 19. Given the number and the nature of guilty verdicts against him, Rodrigues is almost certain to face time in prison when sentenced.
Rodrigues was one of the most influential labor leaders in the state, serving as director of the 12,000-member United Public Workers Union for 21 years.
In asking that Rodrigues be allowed to remain free pending his appeal, Weinberg said he is not a flight risk and that the appeal is likely to result in a reversal of the guilty verdict, an order for a new trial or a sentence that does not include imprisonment.
Rodrigues is even less of a flight risk that in the past because he married his long-time companion, Tani Olason, on April 26, Weinberg said in his request.
An appeal usually takes months before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issues a decision.
In his sentencing memorandum to the court, Weinberg again argued that Rodrigues was wrongly convicted and is not guilty of any of the charges. Weinberg said the government failed to prove allegations that Rodrigues negotiated inflated premiums for health and dental insurance for union members so Sabatini could receive consultant fees she did not earn.
Weinberg argued in the sentencing memo, as he did at trial, that the fees paid to Sabatini came out of the insurance company's profits.
Rodrigues resigned from his post as UPW state director Nov. 22 after the union's parent organization, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees International Union announced it had suspended him.
